How Liverpool fared in their game of Pre-season
Liverpool kicked off their Pre-season tour in Germany this evening against Karlsruher with a 4:2 win against the side playing in the second tier of German football.
Liverpool were without captain Jordan Henderson, while Dominik Szoboszlai started alongside Trent Alexander-Arnold and Bobby Clark in midfield. Alexis Mac Allister started on the bench with Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota as Mohamed Salah, Darwin Núñez and Luis Díaz all started for Liverpool's first fixture of the football season.
Liverpool started the game brilliantly with an early opener from Núñez who slotted home from close range after a one-two with Salah after just 3 minutes. Liverpool held the majority of possession for the first half but without making many clear cut chances, allowed Karlsruher to capitalise on this. Lars Stindl beautifully struck home his volley off the crossbar from just inside the box after a well-worked free kick making the scoreline level.
Halftime allowed Jurgen Klopp to change his lineup for the second half of the game meaning Mac Allister was finally able to get his first minutes for his new side. Karlsruher started the second half the better side and opened up the Liverpool defence from a through ball thanks to Stindl, giving Sebastain Jung the opportunity to smash it into the roof of the net to take the lead. Liverpool amped-up the pressure on their German opponents and finally equalised in the 69th minute thanks to a tidy finish from Cody Gakpo from close range. Diogo Jota bagged the winner in the 92nd minute after dancing through the Karlsruher defence. Seconds later Karlsuher lost out to Mac Allister who played in Diogo Jota for his second within a minute who slotted it past the goalkeeper to wrap the game up.
Liverpool unsurprisingly dominated the ball throughout the game. Each and every player looked comfortable on the ball and were showing off their talents. However, the Liverpool defence looked shaky as they struggled to clear the ball after attacks from the German second division side . The first goal, although, brilliantly struck could have been avoided if he was picked up on the edge of the box. As for the second, all it took was a long ball for the defence to be opened up showing the vulnerability of this Liverpool defence. With Henderson leaving and Fabinho likely, a new defensive midfielder is needed to tighten up the defence.
Both Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister picked up some minutes, each playing a half. Both players looked comfortable on the ball with Mac Allister even picking up an assist. Szoboszlai's work rate looked dangerously high as he was non-stop running throughout the first half. Both players still have much to prove throughout this pre-season campaign but it was a very good start for the pair.